Little Eve by Catriona Ward

Winner of the Shirley Jackson Award for best novel and the August Derleth Prize for best horror novel, Catriona Ward's Little Eve is a heart-pounding literary gothic with a devastating twist. Eve and Dinah are everything to one another, together day and night. They are raised among the Children, a clan ruled by a mysterious figure they call Uncle. All they know is the gray Isle of Altnaharra, which sits alone in the black sea off the wildest coast of Scotland. Eve loves the free, savage life of the Isle and longs to inherit Uncle's power. But Dinah longs for something more, something different. With the dawn of the first World War, the solitude of Altnaharra is broken, and soon after, Eve's faith starts to fracture. In the depths of winter, as the old year dies, the nearby townsfolk awaken to discover a massacre on the Isle. Eve and Dinah's accounts of that night contradict and intertwine. As past and present converge, only one woman can be telling the truth. Who is guilty, who innocent? And who can be trusted?

I think you need to have a lot of patience when reading this, coz its SO confusing. Like I finished reading the book and I'm still so confused lol.

The twist was surprising yes, but like I said I am still very confused.

Loved the gothic and spooky vibes. But I wish we had gotten to know more about the ‘him' mentioned.

Would def recommend this for spooky season coz it gives all those creepy gothic mansion vibes.

Giving this a 3 star rating because I still dont know if I like this book or not.

Might be my favorite of hers so far.

Catriona Ward can write a twisted book for sure.

Eve and her unconventional family are preparing for the end of the world. They live in an estate on a quiet island off the shore of Scotland. When their quiet and remote lives are threatened by a detective investigating a murder things start coming to light that shake their foundation and brings truths to light. And throws other truths into the shadows.

I'm not even sure how to summarize this book so that's my quick take. This gothic horror has the perfect setting to put you right into the story. The story is intriguing, hear breaking, and even hopeful at times and Ward does a wonderful job of really taking you on a journey with these characters. The way the book is laid out between past and present/future and between multiple points of view made the unfolding of the story interesting.

Though I enjoyed the story itself I can't say I enjoyed the whole experience of this book. It took me far longer than expected to read and I found certain parts too drawn out. While the multiple view points and switching between past and future helped the story it also made me confused at times as it wasn't necessarily past and present. It skipped between multiple decades in a non linear way. About mid way through I was ready to put it down and was a 2 star read but because I loved Ward's other book I kept with it which I'm happy I did. The ending really wrapped the story up nice and while I called the ending it was done very well.

With all of that being said, I'm not a huge fan of historical fiction, which could have been my issue. If you enjoy historical fiction, gothic horror, and can stomach the TW's than this would be a great read for you.

TW's with possible SPOILERS BELOW:

TW's: cults, religion, child abuse, sexual abuse, pedophilia, starvation, animal abuse, animal death, infant death, abandonment, kidnapping, manipulation, drug use, body horror, blood

I just finished Little Eve by Catriona Ward and here are my thoughts.

Eve, a girl of a clam that has some wild beliefs, spends her time on the isle of Altnaharra, a place off the coast of Scotland.

Her cult is preparing to bring about on the ending of this world and usher in the rebirth/

The adder will pass its powers to one honored member and Eve, she wants that honor/

Everything goes wrong when a brutal murder has an inspector come and investigate. The interruption has the ceremony going terribly wrong.....

I am not going to lie, I had really high expectations for this book and I found the story to be a little sloppy in places and wasn't cohesive at all. The switching between timelines was a little confusing too and often didn't sit well in the narrative.

The plot was excellent. I found the whole idea of this cult and the adder being worshiped really clever but the execution was there for me. It was jumbled in places and I found my attention slipping sometimes. I really wanted to love it but it was just ok for me.

Loved the location and the descriptive narrative but there was so much that missed that mark, that I had to really sit down and push myself to finish in a few places.

3.5 stars but rounded to 4 because it really wasn't a 3 so I didn't feel rounding down was the way to go.

Thank you to #netgalley and #mcmilliantorforge for my review copy.